Pastel Palette ㅡ Taekook

seventy-eight.

flashback.

Jeongguk locked his phone the moment he finished reading what Jieun had sent to him.

He felt his chest tighten for a minute and he was barely breathing anymore. His head was pounding so hard he couldn’t focus. He was so so scared of losing his son, but he couldn’t afford to lose Taehyung, too.

He had to think of somethingㅡ a plan that could trick Jieun so that he would be able to rescue Storm. But it’s as if his mind was a blank slate at the moment. He was terrified because he had to do this alone. He had to fight for his family.

He was pacing back and forth inside their apartment, and he would tug the ends of his hair whenever he failed to think of something good. He needed Taehyung with him because Taehyung would always bring out the best and the calmness in him. However, he managed to fuck up and said some things that he never really meant in the first place. Now he had no choice but to face everything... alone.

‘If Taehyung was here, he- stop. He’s not here, Jeongguk. He can’t be here. Fuck, I have to do this alone. I have to save my family,’ Jeongguk scolded himself whenever his thoughts went astray.

He decided to sit down the couch as he buried his face on the palm of his hands. He was close to crying but he can’t do that right now. He had to be strong even if he was already at his weakest point.

He bit his bottom lip hard enough to stop himself from choking out a sob. He took a deep breath and as he exhaled slowly, he suddenly thought of something.

He contemplated a lot of times, weighed the pros and cons of his plan, but after a few minutes, he finally decided to carry it out. He was going to do it, and he would surely risk everything if it meant putting his family back together.

With shaky hands, he reached for his phone which was lying on the coffee table, and dialed the number which belonged to the woman whom he despises the most.

It rang a few times before his call got accepted. It was silent for a moment, but then Jieunㅡ with her annoying (well, more on mocking) voiceㅡ decided to break the silence.

“I see you already made your choice, Gukkie,” she purred and it irked the hell out of Jeongguk. He was well aware of how his hand started to grip his phone tightly.

“Let’s get this over with, Jieun. Send me the location,” Jeongguk whispered through gritted teeth. He can easily sense how satisfied Jieun was on the other side of the line just because she began humming. She started fucking humming a tune.

“Patience, love,” she giggled. The fucking audacity, Jeongguk thought. “Remember, the moment I end this call and send you the location, you’ll be mine again, Gukkie,” she added, and Jeongguk knew she was already grinning wide. He closed his eyes for a moment as he tried so hard to breathe steadily.

“I fucking know that already, Jieun. Just send the goddamn location already.” And just like that, the line went dead.

Jeongguk's plan was actually something like this:

The moment he would see Jieun face to face, he would cover up the truth with a lie, and would tell her that he had already broken up with Taehyung.